Carl Hoffman - Founder & CEO - BasisTech

How long have you been working in Boston?

I’ve been working in Boston since moving here from Okinawa in 1976. I spent ten years at MIT as an undergraduate student, graduate student, and researcher before joining the business world. I co-founded BasisTech in 1995 and in 2023 I became a venture capitalist.

What do you do?

I work with about forty early-stage to mid-stage technology startups in such fields as fintech, regtech, cyber security, machine vision, and information retrieval. These companies are located across the USA and Japan.

Carl Hoffman at the AI for Human Language Conference

What are the benefits and challenges of working in Japan?

The business infrastructure in Tokyo is the best I’ve experienced anywhere in the world. The quality and reliability of the transportation system, office buildings, and business support teams are extremely high. Trade shows and business meetings are executed flawlessly. Contractors and tradespeople (such as carpenters and electricians) have very high standards for quality and reliability.

On the other hand, there’s an unwillingness by some large Japanese corporations to embrace important, fundamental changes. For example, many industries, such as automotive and aerospace, are shifting to software-first architectures. As another example in information technology, an international standard known as Unicode became widely adopted around the world more than twenty years ago. The older Japanese corporations were the slowest adopters, and this hurt global sales of software and software-enabled-hardware products from Japan. My last example is the distressing failure of Japanese companies and policy makers to embrace electrification and renewable energy.

Carl Hoffman at the Big Data Analytics Tokyo Conference in 2017

What is your favorite thing about Boston?

Boston is a global center for education, science, technology, music, art, architecture, and many other creative and cultural endeavors. It draws students, scholars, researchers, engineers, and investors from all over the world. I’m a firm believer in the strength of Boston’s academic and business ecosystem, and its potential for partnership with Japan.

If I had to pick one thing, it would have to be MIT.

BasisTech Website